RESPEC Consulting & Services announces the acquisition of the MATRIX Consulting Group, Inc., effective June 1, 2011.  MATRIX is an environmental planning consulting firm located in Rapid City, South Dakota, providing services in environmental planning, tribal consultation, and collaboration strategies on major regional projects for over 13 years.  Cheryl Chapman, Ph.D., P.E., established MATRIX in 1998 after leaving her post as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment.  MATRIX has built a reputation for success in ensuring regulatory compliance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) principles.  NEPA requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision-making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.  NEPA is applied to any project, federal, state, or local, that involves federal funding, work performed by the federal government, or permits issued by a federal agency. The combined technical expertise of the RESPEC and MATRIX team increases our ability to provide turnkey solutions to government, private industry, and tribes in the mining, energy, and water markets.  According to Todd Kenner, President of RESPEC, “We have successfully worked together with MATRIX on many projects.  Bringing the firms together allows us to better serve our clients while leveraging the collective strengths of both organizations.  We are excited about expanding our capabilities within our Rapid City office.”  Founded in 1969, RESPEC is a South Dakota corporation headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota, with offices in Florida, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, New York, and Wyoming.  The focus of the firm remains in energy, mining, development of natural resources, environmental planning and restoration, water quality, and information technologies..